Food manufacturers are continuously challenged to find ways to present an appetizing and authentic food product at minimized raw material costs. One area of particular endeavor has been the goal of producing compositions including fully natural ingredients. Particularly, the consumer demands for foods containing starches which have not been chemically modified but which have the same functional properties as chemically modified starches.
Indeed, starches are often chemically modified with different reagents to produce starches having, for example, excellent tolerance to processing variables such as heat, shear, pH extremes, and storage stability. Such chemically modified starches provide interalia a desirable smooth texture and possess viscosity stability throughout the processing operation and normal shelf life of the food. In contrast, unmodified starches breakdown in viscosity, loose thickening capacity and textural qualities, and behave unpredictably during storage as a result of the stresses encountered during food processing. Heat, shear, and/or an extreme pH, especially an acidic pH, tend to fully disrupt the starch granules and disperse the starch polymers into the food. Hence, unmodified starches also called native starches are generally unsuitable for use in processed foods.
Different solutions have already been proposed in the art to address this issue, for example, in EP 721 471 and EP 1 038 882 thermally inhibited starches and flours that are functionally equivalent to chemically modified (i.e., crosslinked) starches are disclosed.
EP 830 379 and 1 159 880 relate to pregelatinized non-granular starches that are inhibited in order to have the textural properties of chemically crosslinked pregelatinized non-granular starches. In these references, the “physically” modified starches described do not contain chemical modifications but their structure is modified during the process.
Another solution that has been proposed in the art is to fully replace chemically modified starch by citrus fiber in low fat emulsions. This solution seems to be satisfactory, even if some grittiness appears, as citrus fiber is a highly functional texturizing material but citrus fiber suffers from being relatively expensive.
Accordingly, there is still a need for having a low cost natural ingredient exhibiting the same functionality than chemically modified starch. The present invention fulfills this need by providing a composition comprising citrus fiber and native starch, its use as edible substitute for chemically modified starch, and a process for preparing it. Indeed, the inventors have surprisingly found that mixing citrus fiber with native starch results in a product having process tolerance required in the food industry, such as resistance to shear, as well as improved texture, and freeze thaw stability.